Christmas album reviews: Gregory Porter | Samara Joy | Paloma Faith | The Heathen and the Holy & more

Gregory Porter makes an assured first foray into the festive market this year, Kate Rusby continues her tradition of gifting us a very folky Christmas and there’s even an unlikely blast of Yuletide punk pop from Wheatus. Reviews by Fiona Shepherd

Gregory Porter: Christmas Wish (Blue Note/Decca) ****

Samara Joy: A Joyful Holiday (Verve Records) ***

Paloma Faith: When Paloma Got Stuck Down the Chimney (at Christmas) (Sony) ***

Gregory Porter PIC: Erik Umphery

The Heathen and the Holy: Christmas Glory (Blood Records) ***

Kate Rusby: Light Years (Pure Records) ***

Wheatus: Just A Dirtbag Christmas EP (Legacy Recordings) ***

Twinnie: Blue Christmas EP (IKAW Records) ***

Samara Joy PIC: Ambe J Williams.

Chloe Flower: Chloe Hearts Christmas (Sony Music Masterworks) ***

While it looks likely that The Pogues will finally top the Christmas charts with their 36-year-old classic, Fairytale of New York, a few new faces have entered the festive fray this year with Yule-ready albums. Gregory Porter proves a confident curator of soul and jazz Christmas selections on his first ever festive album, Christmas Wish, encompassing a trio of originals – sultry soul jam Everything’s Not Lost, the pop gospel testifying of the title track and sweetly sentimental Heart for Christmas – alongside some classy standards, such as Marvin Gaye’s cosmic Christmas offering Purple Snowflakes, Nat “King” Cole’s crooning Cradle In Bethlehem and the creamy comfort of What Are You Doing New Year’s Eve, in duet with Samara Joy.

The Grammy-winning Joy has also produced her own festive offering, the punningly titled A Joyful Holiday EP, on which she radiates the cocktail bar vibes of Julie London’s Warm in December and performs O Holy Night with her family. Porter, meanwhile, crops up again on Paloma Faith’s festive EP, When Paloma Got Stuck Down the Chimney (At Christmas), a gathering of her previous Yuletide offerings, including a sleigh bell-infested mix of Only Love Can Hurt Like This, the Seventies-style pop soul Christmas Prayer (with Porter) and Mariah vibes of Baby It’s Cold Outside.

Noah and the Whale members Fred Abbott and Tom Hobden have released a Christmas song every year for the past decade as The Heathen and the Holy – now gathered together as one collection of warm-hearted, good-natured and wide-ranging originals. Christmas Glory features the Seventies power pop of When Christmas Comes Around, folk pop earworm Hey Merry Christmas and maximalist waltz On Christmas Day. Lennonesque ballad It’s Just Not Christmas introduces a plummy voiceover, which is also employed on wistful eco-anthem Save Christmas and the cheesy bossa nova We Need Christmas More Than Ever, a lockdown song which tips over into novelty territory.

The Heathen and the Holy

Kate Rusby continues her tradition of gifting us a very folky Christmas. Light Years is her seventh seasonal offering of folk carols and John-Lewis-advert whimsy featuring a fragrant folky rendition of It’s The Most Wonderful Time of the Year, the slick and silky The Moon Shines Bright (with guest Alison Krauss), a featherlight Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree, Chris Sugden’s parody tune Arrest These Merry Gentlemen and the full folky flounce of Rusby Shepherds, otherwise known as While Shepherds Watch. The one breathy Rusby original, Glorious, is a lovely snowy snuggle of a tune.

Wheatus’s festive reworking of their hit Teenage Dirtbag, with frontman Brendan B Brown now wondering if Santa knows who he is, is presumably the main selling point of Just a Dirtbag Christmas EP, but the other four tracks are better, including the cutesy retro bubblegum of Feels Like Christmas, punk pop You Made Me Believe In Christmas and overwrought Mean Christmas.

York-born, Nashville-based singer/songwriter and actress Twinnie makes her seasonal debut with the Blue Christmas EP featuring creditable originals in the Mariah/Shania style, such as the impish pop cynicism of Elf Yourself and I Hate Christmas, while pop classical pianist Chloe Flower goes all-out orchestral on Chloe Hearts Christmas. She plays it trad with a terribly proper and perky Sleigh Ride but elsewhere throws a few curveballs. Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy is pimped up with unnecessary electronic beats while an antiseptic MOR take on Carol of the Bells falls flat. However, she rivals Porter in tapping into some old school Yuletide magic with her version of Once Upon a December from Anastasia.